Radiant energy guiding system for airplanes



July 4, 1933. J. H. HAMMOND, JR., ET AL I RADIANT ENERGY GUIDING SYSTEM FOR AIRPLANES Filed Feb. 15, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Wm M ATTORNEY.

July 4, 1933- J. H. HAMMOND, JR, ET AL 1,917,114

RADIANT ENERGY GUIDING SYSTEM FOR AIRPLANES Filed Feb. 15, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 H I 1 INVEN TOR.

1 BY M ATTORNEY.

" Patented July 4, 1933 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE;

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND, JR., GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, AND ERNST I. w. ALEXANDERSON, 0F SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK; SAID ALEXANDEBSON ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK RADIANT ENERGY GUIDING SYSTEM FOR AIBPLANES V Application filed February, 1928. Serial No. 254,540.

The invention relates to means for and method of guiding aerial transportation.

definite fields of radiant energy intensity for guiding aircraft in predetermined paths.

A further object of the invention is to provide clearly defined aircraft trails without relying upon sound or light signals which may be subject to failure 'due to climatic conditlons. V

A still further object of the invention is to provide electrical signaling means for defining the position of a landing field to aircraft pilots who may be above the range. of vision and sound from the landing field.

One feature of the invention relates to the rovision of'an improved radio broadcastmg antenna which is adapted to propagate polarized electrical signals in a vertical direction from the. antenna.

A further feature of the invention relates to the provision of an electrlcal broadcastantenna, which is adapted to propagate electrical signals in aricomparatively confined direction vertically upwardly and outwardly at right angle's'to the length of the antenna in such manner as to produce a fanshaped field of signal intensity extending from the antenna.

A still further feature relates to the provision of means for defining an aviation trail by the positioning of the plurality of antennas of a character designed to propagate. vertical fan-shaped areas of signal intensity whereby the edges of each fan-shaped area are adapted to lie adjacent the fan-shaped areaproduced by the next antenna in such manner as to provide a single continuous line of radiant energy signal intensity.

Another feature-of the invention relates to the provision of a s stem of radio antennas which are designe to produce a path of si nal intensity cir'cumscribing a landin fifid in such manner as to advise an 'aircra pilot that the" field lies directly below him.

Other features and objects will appear from the following description taken in connelftifin with the accompanying drawings in w 10 Fig. 1 is a view of'one preferred form of the antenna will not take place.

broadcasting antenna illustrating the man-' 1 ner in which radio signals are broadcasted One object of'the invention is to provide.

therefrom.

Fig. 2 is a .view illustrating the manner in which continuous path of signal intensity is formed by a plurality of antennas as illustrated in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a system of radio signal antennas for defining landingfields and for marking paths to the said field.- Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In the following description and claims, a

parts, characteristic features and functions will be identified by specific means for convenience of expression, but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts or equivalent construction as the art will permit.

Referring to form of radio broadcasting antenna is illustrated, which may be used in connection with this invention, as will hereinafter be described. The antenna structure comprises the ends of the cross arms 12 and 13 are a.

pair of supporting elements 14. and 15 to which an antenna 16 is secured. The antenna 16 is arranged, as indicated, to form a plurality of diagonals between the support- 1ng elements 14 and 15. When this antenna is operated atits natural period a field of electrical signal intensity, as illustrated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, is produced, the character of which'may best be described as a fan-shaped field extending vertically at right angles to the supporting elements 14 and15- It is desirable mthis connection to uses low wave length in transmission as for instance below 10 meters whereby expansion of the field in the direction of the length of Arranged on one of the poles 11, ar12 1s a box or casing 18 containing a sourceiiof oscillations such as an oscillator or chopper. Wires 19 are pro- Fig. .1 of the drawings, one

' end poles 10 and 11 upon which are supported vided for impressing the oscillations on the antenna.

Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings, for providing a continuous path of electrical signal intensity at high altitudes, a plurality of signal propagating antennas, such as the type shown in Fig. 1,are provided parallel to each other as to length and positioned with their length at right angles to the path which is desired to be formed, in the manner illustrated such that the edges of the fan-shaped field of signal intensity produced by each antenna is adjacent to the edges of the fanshaped fields of signal intensity produced by its adjacent antennas. Thus it will be apparent that a signal path of radio signal intensity is provided. At a certain predetermined altitude the field intensity throughout the length of the path is thus equal or I constant, whereas at a lower altitude, due to over all the antennas forming the path, such for instance as a letter of the Morse code, whereby a pilot oi an aircraft traveling in or adjacent to the signal field will be guided by it through the use of the usual electrical signal receiving device and the path may be readily distinguished by the call letter or peculiar signal of the path which is being simultaneously propagated by the various antennas forming the path.

As illustrated in Fig. 3 of thedravvings, a.

system of aviation guiding lanes and land- 1ng field indicators are provided as for instance the lanes 30, 31, 32 and 33 formed as indicated in Fig. 2 by a plurality of radio signal antennas. In such a system it is preferable that the antenna forming the guiding lane 30 transmit a signal varying from signal broadcast by the guiding lane 31 and so on for the lanes 32 and 33 of the system. surround ing the landing field 34 is a plurality of radio antennas 35 which are adapted as set forth in connection with the Fig. 2 of the drawings to propagate vertically, a continuous path of electrical signals circumscribing the landing field. lfdesired a particular portion of the field may be designated by a second oil-cum scribing signal intensity formed by an inner line of adjacent antennas 37- where by one particular portion of the landmg field may be designated to the aviator.

in which to land. The signals are propagated by the landing field indicating antennas 35 and 3'? to-be clearly characterized from the signal propagated by the antennas forming the lane. This may be rovided for by signalling the center of the anding field from the antennas 37 by the letter A as for instance in the Morse code. The antennas 35 is approaching the landing field A on lane 2,

similarly 32 and 33 may be designated in such manner as to indicate the landing field to which they lead and the path leading thereto.

in operation, the antenna 16 is ener ed at its natural period of wave length 0 less than 10 meters, whereby a field 0 electrical signal intensity is created extending vertically upward in fan-shaped formation at right angles to the length of the antenna structure. As a plurality of such structures are arranged adjacent to each other in such manner as to have the outer sides of the fanshaped signal intensity area coinciding a contiguous line of signal intensity is created forming a path at right angles to the length of the antennas involved. The signals which are adapted to be simultaneously propagated by all the antennas forming the path ma be of a character as indicated which will a vise an air pilot as to the path upon which he is it v and the landing field to which it similar arrangement of antennas may be arranged to form a closed figure surrounding the landin field which antennas are adapted to simu taneously propagatea signal which will designate to the ilot that he is enterhig the area directly at ove the land-in field. A second forme by another series of antennas which on entering the field the pilot will cross thus indicating to him that directly below lies that portion of the field upon which he may land with safety.

Thus the invention provides means whereby an aviator desiring to land at a certain field ma fiy in the general direction of the field an by radio receiving means will be advised upon egproaehing one of the lanes leading to the e by the antenna designating the lane or path will advise him. as to the field to which it leads and theusual radio direction finder re may be 7 d. The signal propagated radiating formation from the field 'as its center it is hardly likely that the pilot will fail to cross one of the lanes when in the V.

vicinityof the field. Thus it may be readily seen that from the information received through the radio receiving ruments and v direction finders he may follow the lane to the flying field. Upon reaching same, if climatic conditions are such that the usual visual or audible signals are not apparent he will be advised upon reaching the field by the signalling systems surrounding it and will also be advised u on reaching that portion of the field upon w 'ch he may safely make a land- The invention upon which this application is based is broader than the specific embodiments shown and described for thepurpose of illustrating at least some of the ways in which it may be employed. The scope of the invention is therefore to be understood as not being limited by the present specific-description. We intend no limitations other than those imposed by the claims.

What is claimed is: 1. The combination, in a system for guiding moving craft along a predetermined path,

of a plurality of radiating systems arrangedat intervals along said path, each of said radiating systems being adapted to project va fan shaped radiation into space, said fan shaped radiation extending longitudinally of said path, the difierent radiating systems being spaced apart along said path to prm duce a substantially uniform field intensity throughout the length of said path.

2. The combination, in a system for guiding aircraft, of a plurality of radiating systerns arranged along a predetermined path, each of said radiating systems being adapted to project a fan shaped beam into space,-said ing aircraft, of a plurality of radiating systems arranged along a'predtermined path,

each of said radiating systemsbeing adapted to project radio waves into space, the radiation pattern in a horizontal plane produced' by each of said systems being relatively long a and narrow. and extending longitudinally of said path, said systems being spaced at in tervals along said path such that the radiation patterns coincide sufliciently to produce substantially constant signal intensity at a predetermined altitude.

4. Thecombination, in a system for guiding moving craft, of a plurality of radiating systems arranged along said path each of said radiating systems being adapted to project radio waves into space along said path said radiating systems being spaced at intervals along said path such that their radiation fields coincide sufiiciently to reduce a substantially uniform radio eld intensi -'throughout the length of said path and a common means for controlling all of said radiation systems thereby to modulate the entire field along said path with a common signal.

5. In a system for guidingaircraft to a landing field, the combination comprising a plurality of short wave antennae spaced along a boundary of said field, each of said antennae being constructed and arranged to project upward from said boundary of said field a fan-shaped beam of radio waves of short wave length, and the difierent antennae being so spaced and arranged relative to each other that said fan-shaped beams combine to form a continuous sheet of radio waves extending longitudinally of said boundary.

6. In a system for guiding aircraft to a landing field, the combination comprising a plurality of short wave antennae spaced along each bounda of the landing field, each of said antennae eing constructed and arranged to project upward from the respective boundaries of said field a fan-shaped beam of radio waves, the different antennae along each boundary being so shaped and arranged relative to each other that said beams combine to form a continuous sheet of radio waves extending longitudinally of the respective boundaries whereby the space over said landing field is enclosed by said sheets of radiation.

' 7.-In a system for guiding aircraft to a landing-field, thecombination comprising a 4 plurality of short wave antennae spaced along 1 a boundary of said field, said antennae being constructed and arranged to project upward from said boundary of said field a sheet of radio waves of short wave length, said sheet extending longitudinally of said boundary,

means to project upward an additional sheet of radio waves of short wave length, said sheet extending from said bdundary alon a predetermined course leading to said landing field and means to distinctly modulate said two sheetsof radio waves.

In'testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands. 1

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND, JR. ERNST. F. ALEXANDERSON. 

